Michelin to double capacity at Hungarian plant

NYIREGYHAZA, Hungary—Michelin will invest $53 million at its plant in Nyíregyháza through 2017 to add capacity for ultra-high-performance tires and more than double the plant's overall capacity.

The development plan will increase capacity to 6,900 tires a day, Michelin said, from the current 3,000 units/day capacity. The expansion will add 100 jobs to the 950 there now, Michelin said.

The investment is aimed particularly at the growing market for 18-inch tire sizes in Europe.

“The mission of the factory remains unchanged,” Michelin said in a statement, “as it will continue producing Michelin-branded passenger car and 4×4 tires for sport, supersport and 4×4 vehicles.”

In addition to current product categories, puncture-resistant tires also would be produced, the company said in a statement.

In Hungary, Michelin also has a logistics center in Vác, which supplies central and southern European markets, and a strategic operational unit in Tuzsér, which provides raw materials commercial activities.

The French group set-up a new steering organization in Budapest in 2013, which is responsible for the coordination of the sales of entry-level passenger car tires around the world.

Michelin is in the process of closing its truck tire plant in Budapest by mid-year, a decision it disclosed last May, citing a “volatile” European truck tire market and the factory's urban location as its reasons.

Michelin has operated the plants Hungary since 1996 through its acquisition that year of the former Taurus Rubber Co.

Michelin added car tire capacity to the Nyíregyháza plant in 2005. Up to that point, the plant in eastern Hungary was dedicated to farm tire production.